Thursday, January 10, 2013

Googling the nearest gas station, sending email from your smartphone, or booking a table at a restaurant: Those are all things you shouldn't do while driving. But so many drivers have grown accustomed to their on-the-go tasks that automakers are increasingly trying to make those things easier to pull off with both hands on the wheel and both eyes on the road.
(01/10/2013)

Music is a time honored part of worship in most religions. For many Ojibwe people in northern Minnesota, hymns are much more than an expression of religious devotion. They represent a unique piece of Ojibwe culture tribal that members are trying to preserve.

A new "far detector" facility in Ash River, Minn. is set to be partially running this spring. Researchers will be using the five-story building, which sits mostly underground, to catch tiny particles called neutrinos.

President Barack Obama nominated White House chief of staff Jack Lew to be secretary of the Treasury Thursday, declaring his complete trust in an aide with three decades of Washington experience in economic policy and a penchant for shunning the limelight.

Today on the MPR News Update, a look at the top priorities of the DFL leaders in the new legislative session, the deal that sells off big chunks of the Supervalu grocery chain, and the nominations -- and snubs -- for the Academy Awards.

The Civil War saga "Lincoln" leads the Academy Awards with 12 nominations, including best picture, director for Steven Spielberg and acting honors for Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones.

Public health officials say the influenza picture that's developing appears to be pretty typical even though our recent mild flu years may have made it seem like flu is nothing to get too concerned about.

At a dinner Wednesday evening, a top aide to Gov. Mark Dayton urged business leaders to work with the governor to fix the state's long-term budget problems and assuage a mostly anti-tax audience leery of what the DFL majority may do in the upcoming session.

DFL and Republican lawmakers wasted no time this week in unveiling a bill to establish a state health insurance exchange. Federal and state deadlines give legislators barely 10 weeks to get the bill through 14 House and Senate committees.

Gun violence is just one of many factors contributing to lower U.S. life expectancy, but a study's finding took on urgency because the report comes less than a month after the shooting deaths of 26 people at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

A study shows that nearly half of the firearms recovered from crime scenes in Minnesota were first bought locally. A regional conference on gun violence takes place in Minneapolis today. Attendees include law enforcement leaders, elected officials and scholars who study crime and violence are expected to participate and share information and examples of how to reduce gun violence.

Bassist Omer Avital, whose family hails from Morocco and Yemen, grew up in Israel. Surrounded by one tradition but raised in another, he has long absorbed a variety of styles, including European classical music. But the vehicle he chooses to express his creativity is jazz. He performs Thursday at the Jewish Community Center in St. Paul.

The atmosphere is warmer. But is that a problem? Is global warming simply a temporary, cyclical phenomenon or evidence of a slow motion crisis? How much of what's happening can be traced to humans and their industries? What, if anything, should be done to stop climate change?
Is climate change real?